


Blood in the Sewers

by liliaeth



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Good Theo Raeken, M/M, Post-Season/Series 06, scott mccall deserves nice things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-09-30 09:21:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17221235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liliaeth/pseuds/liliaeth
Summary: Scott is trying to save an innocent child from hunters. Theo comes to save him, but fears that maybe he has gone further than his Alpha would allow.





	1. Chapter 1

Scott held the little boy in his arms, gently taking away the child’s pain as he brushed through his hair. He desperately ignored the ache in his stomach, where the hunters had hit him with an array of wolfsbane bullets. That wasn’t what mattered right now, he’d burn it out later. Right now he had to get the kid to calm down so he’d stay quiet before the hunters found them both.

He’d had no choice but to put himself over the boy, grab the kid and jump down into the sewers. One of the hunters had been pissed to find out that his ex was a werewolf, and that that made his son a werewolf as well. His love turned hate, and now he was desperate to kill his own child.

Scott knew he had to stop the hunters, but his first priority was getting the child to to the safe house where Chris would be waiting. If they were really lucky, Chris had met up with Theo already, and they’d have the Chimera as back up.

“Mama.” The boy looked at him with tear streaked eyes. “Where’s Mamma?”

Scott tried not to think of the woman’s body that he’d seen lying on the street and hoped the five year old hadn’t seen her either.

“I’m so sorry, Kevin. It’s Kevin right?”

The kid didn’t answer, the sobbing just increased. Scott wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t really used to dealing with kids. The closest he came to was when Derek had asked him and Malia to babysit last month. But Derek’s daughter was a baby, a mere two months old, and had been asleep before they even got to Derek’s place. Taking care of her, had been a matter of leaving her alone so they wouldn’t accidentally wake her up. Which was entirely different from comforting a frightened five year old who’d just lost his Mom, and had no idea why his Daddy suddenly wanted to hurt him.

Scott shivered. He was starting to feel the cold, which was both good and bad. It meant he wasn’t suffering from hyperthermia yet, but at the same time, it meant he was weakening, growing closer to human. The wolfsbane having its planned effect.

He supported himself against the wall, trying to hold Kevin out of the filthy sewer water. The little boy was far less resilient than he was. He had to… He flinched in pain as his movement stretched his injuries and gasped for air. He was so damn cold. He held back a scream, a roar, anything that could alert them of his position.  Anything that could scare Kevin.

He could hear sounds coming from behind him. Foot steps, and the clanging of metal on pipes echoing through the tunnels. He stopped for a second to focus. Hearing them talk about the ‘monster’, the voices he heard came out gargled, his senses as confused as his healing. But at least he had an idea of what direction they were in. He forced himself up, and started moving away from them. He clung to the tiny hearbeat racing against his chest.

“We’ll be fine, Kevin. We’ll be just fine.” He wasn’t sure if the boy even heard him.

The stench around him felt like an attack on his senses. He ignored it, wading through the muck, trying to find a manhole to get ou. So far he hadn’t run into any. 

 

He prayed that they weren’t trying to force him into a trap. He’d hunted with Chris for long enough now to know how hunters worked, and it was never much fun to have those tactics used against him.

Once again he could hear the tapping on the pipes. Someone was hitting against them further up. Intentionally? By accident? He had no way of knowing if they intended for it to edge him on, he just knew it was working.

 

He tried to remember the road maps, to figure out how far he’d gotten, and where they were. But the pain in his stomach was too distracting to focus.

“We’re coming for you little doggie.” He heard the voice echoing through the sewer, laughter clamoring through the pipes. He tried to speed up and almost slipped and fell.

He wanted to stop and face them head on. If he’d been on his own, he would have. But instead he looked down at the little boy who was shaking, getting cold, and he knew he couldn’t.

“Daddy.” The little boy whispered. The whimper in the word broke Scott’s heart.  Regardless of species., how could any father treat their own child like this?

He tried to smell and listen for a way out, anything that could lead to an escape.

Finally he found it, the scent of fresh air up ahead, he ran towards it. 

He ended up in a clearing, moonlight shining down through holes in the lid on top of a manhole. 

 

He hesitated, knowing it could be a trap, remembering how Gerard had killed Brett and Lori. He froze as he heard voices up ahead.

 

He pushed himself back, closed his eyes, wondering if he should tell Kevin to stay back and wait as he took on the hunters up ahead. He could feel his claws coming out, his tongue moving past the fangs in his mouth.

 

“Here, doggy doggy...” He heard a voice saying.

 

Then the clicking of guns charging.

 

He pushed Kevin behind him, hoping to at least shield the boy, knowing it wouldn’t matter once he was dead. But unable to just let him die.

That’s when the screams started.

Scott looked up, his eyes flickering in and out of red as he stared into the dark, at the hunters that seemed split in between focusing on him and the new threat. The new threat that walked out of the shadows, his scent covered up with sewer muck and fresh blood.

 

“Theo.”


	2. Chapter 2

If there was one thing Theo had learned as a child, it was how to keep a threat in the back of your eyes, without having it look as if you were staring at them. It had been an essential skill when dealing with the Dread Doctors, but especially with the Pathologist who seemed to think that anyone looking at him was judging his appearance. If he even caught any eyes on him, especially in those rare instants that he had his mask off, he was likely to use them for spare parts.

Chris Argent was no Dread Doctor, but Theo knew better than to bother the man when he was checking his guns. Theo still wasn’t entirely sure that Argent didn’t just want to get rid of him and bury him out of sight, whenever they had to interact without Scott around to act as a buffer. Not to the point it was with Stiles, who always looked at him as if he was a step away from killing Theo whenever he opened his mouth. Or how he was still scared to eat anything Melissa McCall made, those rare few times Theo had gotten invited to pack meetings. But then Argent had more experience holding back his feelings and that man knew how to make some damn good passive aggressive threats.

He stared at the clock and checked with his own watch. Scott was supposed to have checked in with them hours ago. Argent wasn’t saying anything, but based on how he was checking over the same glock that he’d checked three times already, Theo knew that Argent was getting just as worried as he was.

Theo checked his phone, still no messages beyond the last one. Scott had gotten a message from a woman that was trying to get away from her human ex. The man had gotten involved with a hunter cell, and she’d been scared that he was on the verge of finding out what she was.

Scott had sent him a message, telling him he was going to see if she was all right, three hours ago, that was the last they’d heard of him. The Alpha should have returned to the hotel over an hour ago. Even if he had taken the woman to her Mom’s place first. And yet, no communication whatsoever. 

Theo sent his fifth message, hoping it’d annoy Scott into responding.

Nothing. Not even a read receipt. 

“I need to find Scott.” he whispered.

Argent turned to him. 

“Go.”

Theo stared at him, he’d expected a fight, to be told that Scott had asked them to wait for him, to find some kind of disagreement. Argent didn’t do so.

“I’m checking in with my sources.”, Argent said. “You can check in Melody’s place, see if you can track their scent. Call me if you find anything.”

Theo was halfway out the door before Argent was done. 

He called Argent as soon as he got to Melody’s place and found the door forced in, and blood on the floor. There wasn’t any body, but he could smell the stench of fear and death clinging to the floor. And over all of it, Scott’s scent, Scott’s blood.

Cold anger grabbed hold of him, making him focus on the scent, tracking it till he found an open sewer lid. He wasn’t sure if there was anyone waiting for him when he jumped down. He didn’t care if there had been. He didn’t even think to send Argent a text about what had happened, too focused on following Scott’s scent to think of anything else.

Later on he would look back and wonder what had gone wrong with him. He should have thought things through, waited for Argent. But all that went through his mind was one thing: Scott was in danger.

Theo flinched back just in time as he heard hunters coming. They were bragging to one another, about how they’d shot the Alpha, that it was only a matter of time before he fully went down. The guy on the left was whining that their buddies were gonna take credit for their work. His friend didn’t seem to care. They were there to stand guard, in case the Alpha or the brat got away from the others. “Brad’s such an idiot, sleeping with an actual bitch. Makes me worried he’s gonna throw eyes at my dog next.”, the guy joked.

Theo couldn’t help but think of the pictures he’d seen at Melody’s place. Her, a guy that was probably Brad, and their son. A happy family, everything Theo had lost when the Dread Doctors had started coming for him, and everything that these assholes now tried to make a mockery of.

He pushed around the corner, shifting, showing his teeth as the hunters spotted him. They started shooting at him, Theo managed to push one of them head first in the sewer muck, while kicking the gun out of the second hunter’s hands. He slashed at the man, taking him down. The two were still whimpering as he rushed in Scott’s general direction.

The sewers were like a labyrinth, the stench confusing his senses. The sound of rats and other...things made him feel itchy. He already knew he’d be throwing away the shoes he was wearing as soon as he got Scott back safe.

He’d turned his phone on silent, trying to make sure he wouldn't alert the hunters of his presence. That’s when he heard them. They were loud, intentionally so, trying to herd Scott into a corner. Scott was holding the kid. If this had been Theo, he’d have just dropped the kid, and killed the hunters. But not Scott. Knowing the hunters’ focus, they’d kill the boy in a heartbeat if Scott weren’t ready to put himself between the child and the guns. 

Scott smelled of decay, the wolfsbane already affecting his blood, Theo could see black blood seeping from the Alpha’s nose. It wouldn't be long before it was too late. The very thought of losing Scott now sent tremors through Theo. The hunters were aiming their guns, ready to kill. Theo grabbed the one closes to him, pulled him down, his claws cutting through the man’s throat. His blood sinking into his clothes.

Then the next, and the next. By the time the last one was down, Theo’s clothes were spattered with blood. Red muck creeping under his claws.

Scott stared up at him, and Theo flinched, looking at his hands, at what he’d done, at what Scott could probably never forgive him for. They’d tried to kill… and he couldn't let them, that was all he’d been able to think about. His old values taking hold of him once more. He stared around, wishing he could feel guilty over the corpses littering the area around them.

He heard one of the men whimpering, still alive, barely. 

Theo knelt down next to him, as the hunter tried to crawl back, up against the wall. Theo recognized him, it was Melody’s husband, the kid’s father, the man who’d led the charge to annihilate his own family. Theo wanted to kill him, he held back. Instead he went up to Scott. Scott was quiet, hanging on to his last strength to keep from going down. Theo avoided his eyes, knowing the condemnation he’d see in them.

“Kevin, he’s…” Theo took a good look at the kid for the first time since he’d arrived. The little boy was shaking, crying. Theo wanted to tell him to toughen up, but then he stopped himself. This wasn’t the Dread Doctor’s lair. A kid was supposed to be allowed to cry when his Daddy was trying to kill him, when he’d just lost his Mom. When he was taken from his home and had to go on the run. Kids were supposed to be allowed to cry when they were hurt and scared and wet, and they’d just seen lots of people die around them. 

And just cause Theo hadn’t been allowed to do so when he’d been eight, doesn’t mean that it was wrong for the toddler to do so now. 

He wanted to take the kid over from Scott, save Scott from having to keep carrying the burden. But the boy flinched when Theo came even close. Theo stared at the blood on his hands, he couldn't blame him.

Theo didn’t talk, he just made sure to head up to the ladder first. If it was a trap, then he should be the one to take the bullets. It’s all he was good for, especially since Scott wouldn’t want to see him after this. 

It shouldn't matter, whatever it was that was tearing him apart. Guilt, fear? He couldn’t even define it.. He’d been on his own all his life, ever since Tara. He shouldn’t have gotten used to being around Scott’s pack, around Scott’s friends, shouldn't have let himself fall into a rut of hanging out with other people. Even if most of the pack barely tolerated him, it was still better than the alternative. And to think he’d thrown it all away. 

But he’d do it all over again, if it meant saving Scott. 

Scott was… it wasn’t just that he was Alpha. Though Theo wasn’t fool enough to think that that wasn’t part of it. It also wasn’t just that Scott had seen the worst of him, and he’d still offered Theo a second chance, even though that meant a great deal to him as well. It was both those things, but it was something else as well. Something that was much more confusing, and that Theo didn't have the time — or possibly the ability — to figure out.

He lifted his nose, trying to get a good sniff, not that that meant anything, there were ways around scent, and the hunters knew all of them. Then he listened. He closed his eyes, trying to get an idea. There were cars, trees rustling, a dog barking, and one heartbeat

He motioned at Scott to wait, then he pushed open the lid, forcing it out of the way as he jumped out, landing in a crouch. He expected a gun pushed in his face, he just didn’t expect the gun to be in Argents hands. The man lowered his weapon. 

“Theo. Did you find Scott?”

Theo stared around, at the bodies littered around the lid. It had been a trap, the hunters had planned for Scott to try and escape this way. They’d planned to kill him when he tried to escape.   
He couldn't feel guilty for killing the ones in the sewers — even if it might have just cost him a place in Scott’s pack. 

He turned around at a sound and stared as Scott pushed his way up the ladder. It was clear that he was about to fall over, and Chris took hold of the kid before Scott collapsed, while Theo let Scott lean on him, half carrying the Alpha to the car.


	3. Chapter 3

3\. 

 

Scott held back a scream as Theo burned the wolfsbane out of him. It didn’t matter how often they had to do this, it still hurt. And yet his skin was left unblemished as always, no scars remaining to show what had happened. 

He knew he should be grateful for that, but he couldn't bring himself to be so.

He let his senses reach out to Kevin. The boy was pretending to sleep, but his heartbeat told the truth of that little lie. Scott could smell the salt of the boy’s tears, so he was sure that Chris knew as well. Neither of them cared to call the boy out on it. Scott didn’t dare ask Chris how much the hotelroom they were in cost. With three seperate bedrooms, and a kitchen of its own, it was almost the size of an apartment. Chris had closed the curtains in the front, as nice as the view was, it wouldn’t be safe for them to make themselves targets in case the hunters found them again.

Theo, Theo was very anxious about something. The fact that Theo’s heartbeat was it’s regular steady beat only told him more just how scared the other teen really was. Scott wanted to put his hand on the chimera and take at least some of his pain to help him rest.

He stumbled a bit as he tried to get up from the couch. Theo almost took a step forward to help him, pulling back at the last second. Scott tried to pretend he hadn’t noticed. It was hard keeping up this pretence, acting as if nothing was going on. Theo tended to run when you caught him having feelings. It’s part of what made him so sure that Theo ‘had’ changed. The pretense Theo had put up when he first came back had acted as if he were an open book, he didn’t do that anymore. 

But he could hear the hitch in Stiles’ breathing whenever he talked of Theo, he could see Argent’s eyes on the chimera. It’s why he’d taken Theo with them. Best not to leave him with people who still thought Theo was up to something. How could Theo ever prove himself, if he was around people who still thought he was going to kill them whenever he looked at them a second too long?

And it hurt. It hurt knowing they thought that way, as if he was a fool for trusting Theo again. Because as long as they did, he couldn’t keep up his own worries. Theo was at the sink, washing his hands, and Scott wondered if he’d done so back then as well, after the library. Had he gone to clean himself up before resurrecting the other chimeras?

Scott knew Stiles wanted him to be more suspicious of Theo. But how could he, when everyone else was already doing so? Someone had to believe that Theo could do better, and he couldn’t let that be Liam. Not when Liam felt urged to show just how much he still hated Theo, to prove he wasn’t falling for his lies again.. Not when Scott still has dreams where Theo whispered into Liam’s ear, and sent him after Scott.

Scott shivered, his injuries catching up with him for a second as the internal wounds finished healing. It made him remember the look in the hunters eyes, in Kevin’s father’s eyes. In his own father’s eyes, when Scott had told him the truth, and Rafael had disappeared for almost a year after. 

He’d called. He’d called to say he was going to be busy, that he couldn’t come to town, that he was on a case. That he’d miss every lacrosse game, despite insisting that he’d come, that he’d miss graduation. He’d called to ask about his grades, about the schools he’d been accepted to but he’d never ask about the rest of Scott’s life. Scott hadn’t even been able to tell him that he’d died. Rafael McCall wouldn’t understand and Scott couldn't find the energy to try and explain it to him. Just like how he couldn’t bring himself to ask Stiles why his best friend trusted him so little that he felt he had to lie to him.

As if Scott would ever not forgive him.

Theo was staring at his still unpacked bag, it was standing next to Scott’s open one. Scott was eager to ask him what was wrong. Did he think the hunters were going to find them? Had Argent said something about them leaving again? He couldn't have been so distracted that he’d missed that, had he?

 

*******

 

The worst part was the waiting. Waiting for Scott to kick him out. Waiting for that moment when Scott would throw those disappointed eyes at him. That moment when Scott would cut all ties with him once and for all.

Theo put on another shirt, wondering if he should throw out the bloodied one, or try and save it. Might be best if he did. He had no idea how long it would take him to find a job and earn money for a new one. That was if he didn’t break down and steal one first.

Argent threw him a sandwich and he grabbed it without even looking what it was.

Scott had finally sat back down on the bed. Theo took in a deep breath, desperate to memorize Scott’s scent, wishing he could steal some of it to take with him. He knew he wasn’t good, but if he had some part of Scott with him, he might at least not be evil.

“Did you hear anything about those hunters?” Scott asked Argent. 

“Not so far. We took out most of the cell last night, as far as I’ve heard, the rest are licking their wounds and skulking off to be a pain elsewhere.”

“So they could still come after us.” Scott sounded almost resigned.

“Depends on how serious they are.”

“Kevin’s father was leading them. I missed, I’m not sure if he was one of the ones that Theo took out in the sewers.”

Theo was shocked at how matter of fact Scott stated what he’d done. There was anger, but oddly enough he didn’t think it was aimed at him.

“Theo?” Scott got up, coming towards him, Theo stood too stunned. Unable to say what he wanted to say. Argent stared at the both of them for a second. Theo flinched under his gaze, before the Hunter grabbed his coat. “I’m going to check in with my sources.”

When the door slammed shut behind him Theo knew it was just an excuse. The man might as well have said. “Talk to your fucking Alpha.” It was an order he wished he could run away from.  
Scott stared after Chris, before taking another step closer to Theo. Theo felt trapped under his gaze, he knew better than to run. Running only made things worse.

“I know. You don’t have to say anything. I’ll just pack my stuff and go.” he finally faced the situation head on. Better to get Scott to spit it out right then and there.

Scott seemed almost confused, as if Theo hadn’t broken every rule Scott had ever made.

“Why would I be want you to go?” he asked. If Theo didn’t know him better, he might even think he was naive. But Theo did know better.

“I killed them, I killed people.” And why couldn’t he feel bad about doing so?.

“You killed men that planned to murder a two year old child, Theo. They had guns, wolfsbane bullets, and they were deadset on killing Kevin. If you hadn’t stopped them, I would have. But there’s no way I could have kept Kevin from getting hurt if I’d had to.”

 

“I didn’t kill them to protect him” Theo spat out, desperate for Scott to understand. It’s not that he wanted Scott to throw him out, or be angry at him. But this… this waiting for Scott to understand what he’d done, it was too much for him. “I killed them because they were going to kill you!”

Scott’s eyes widened in shock, Theo turned away from him. Refusing to stare at the sad look in Scott’s eyes, unwilling to deal with Scott thinking he was something he wasn’t.

He shivered as he felt Scott’s hand on his shoulder, his palm pressing into the skin of his neck. He wanted to lean into the Alpha, into Scott, but he held back.

 

******

 

Scott wanted to pull Theo into his arms. He knew Theo was hurting, but he also knew how private Theo was. That pulling his pain now, it would be wrong, Theo wouldn't thank him for it.

“Theo…” There was so much meaning in the name. 

He wanted to say he was sorry, even though he knew, understood fully, that it wasn’t his fault, or Theo’s, or Argent’s or anyone’s but the hunters.

He knew how hard Theo had been trying to live up to the pack’s code. How much it had to hurt the chimera to admit that he hadn’t. And it was because Scott hadn’t been able to deal with the situation on his own. Maybe if Scott had been thinking more clearly, it wouldn’t have come to this. But some part of Scott had still wanted to believe that Kevin’s father would come to his senses and want to protect at least his son, even after he’d already murdered his ex-wife.

He knew better than to believe that just being a father, meant you actually cared about your kid. Isaac’s father hadn’t. His own Dad had had ‘issues’. Even his own mother had pulled away in horror at the sight of him. 

And yet, when Brad had held his hands out to his son, calling the boy to him, Scott’s first thought had been that maybe this situation had been salvageable. That the man still had some love for his child. Hope that had been crushed when the man had pulled out the knife and tried to slash his son’s throat out. 

Scott wished he could say he regretted those hunters’ deaths. He wished he could be the paragon of compassion that everyone expected him to be. But all he could think of was the look of hatred in those men’s face as they’d shot at Melody, at Kevin, at him. 

They hadn’t been scared. They hadn’t been trying to protect themselves or anyone else. These hunters had just hated them because they were different, because Brad felt humiliated that he’d seen a werewolf as a human being, he felt like Melody had led him on, made him care about someone he saw as below himself. Scott didn’t think those kind of feelings could come out of nowhere. That hatred had to came from somewhere. Their difference was just an excuse to lash out at them.

“And I didn’t even kill the kid’s father when I should have.”

“Because he was down.”

“Because I didn’t want to ‘disappoint’ you”

Scott shivered. It was bad enough when Derek or Stiles looked at him as if his opinions mattered that much. When Liam looked at him for answers. They were his friends, their opinions mattered as much to Scott as his did to them. But to have Theo say something like that…. It was flattering, sure, but the emphasis Theo put on that scared Scott. The implication that he had been so instrumental to Theo changing put a warm feeling in his chest, but the desperation scared. him. Like if Theo didn't have Scott, or if Scott somehow failed him, his newfound sense of morality would collapse and he'd go right back to the way he'd been before — and that was terrifying. Scott knew from personal experience how dangerous it was to rely on someone else to keep you human. Scott could help Theo change, he could be the catalyst for that change — and he wanted to be. But he couldn't be the reason Theo stayed good. That was something that Theo had to do for himself. For both of their sake.

“Theo, I can’t,… I can’t be the reason for you to be good.” he tried to start saying. “You can’t be good for someone else. I’ve tried that, it doesn’t work, not forever.”

Theo stared at him in utter defeat. 

 

“But I can’t be good otherwise.”

 

The words sounded even, but Scott could hear, smell the tension underneath, the desperation. 

Was it really that much to ask to let Theo cling on to him just a little while longer?


	4. Chapter 4

4.

 

Theo was shaking. Scott blamed himself. Theo was in this situation because of him, because of his actions. And yet, the chimera was here because of his own choices as well. He could have left after the Wild Hunt was gone. There’d been nothing keeping him in Beacon Hills. He’d stayed in a town where he knew people would hate him. He’d pretended it was for protection against the hunters, but really, Theo could have gone anywhere else in the world, making it harder for hunters to find him. Most of the ones outside of Beacon Hills would have no idea about chimeras. He could have fooled them easily. But he’d stayed to help the pack.

He’d come with Scott because Scott had asked. He was helping, because of Scott. 

Scott had asked, and Theo had followed.

Scott could spot the signs of someone who was drowning and needed something to cling to. He’d been drowning himself when the Dread Doctors had come to town, when Theo first came back. When the pack had been breaking apart, and Stiles had pulled away from him. It’s why he’d clung to Theo as badly as he had, and had sank when the Chimera had turned out to be a lead anchor instead. 

It had been an attack on everything Scott was and wanted to be, this notion that he could have been so wrong in trusting someone. That no matter how careful he’d been, he’d still lowered his defenses for the wrong person. It’s why he’d tried to build them back up again, tried to keep himself from trusting Theo, tried to keep himself from falling back into the same trap. But watching how hard Theo tried, it just made it so hard to keep away from him.

And now Theo was the one drowning in fear and loneliness, and it was up to Scott whether he'd offer his hand or push him under.   
“I’m not angry with you. I’m not upset with you. You’re not a monster, not anymore. And I wish you understood just how amazing that is.” He was shocked by how much he actually believed what he was saying, realizing only as he spelled it out that it was true.

“Scott, I…” Theo seemed so small, Scott wished he could cover him up and protect him from the world. But the world had already shattered Theo a long time ago, and all Scott was left to do, was pick up the pieces and help Theo put them back together again.

“I want to show you something. Is it alright if I do?”

“Show me?” Theo sounded so weary, he didn’t flinch, but he might as well have.

Scott held out his hand, letting it shift into a claw. Theo stared at it for a second before taking hold of it and bringing it to the back of his neck. Scott wished he’d earned Theo’s trust half as much as Theo seemed to believe he did.

He didn’t bother to try and be gentle, doing this slowly would only make it hurt more. He forced his claw into Theo’s flesh, touching his spine, carefully oh so carefully to make sure he wouldn't cause irreparable harm.

Theo leant into his touch, and Scott closed his eyes as he slipped into his own mind, dragging Theo along with him, letting Theo settle down in the memory of the two of them as boys. Scott showing Theo his inhaler. And Theo shyly looking up at him, with what almost looked like relief.

Scott couldn’t help but compare little eight year old Theo with the teenager standing next to him now.

Theo stared at his younger self with a form of disdain, mixed with a sense of longing.  
“I’m not that kid anymore, Scott.”

“Neither am I.” he turned his back to Theo, letting Theo know he wasn’t scared of him, and expecting the other to follow, as the hallways of the hospital slowly shifted into those of the school, illuminated solely by the emergency lighting, reflecting just enough on white walls, that even human eyes would have been able to see where they were going.

He could feel himself leaving the gym before he saw his younger self come prowling out. Scott shivered as he felt the dark push of Peter’s mind weighing him down all over again. Age and experience let him seperate that push from his own feelings, but the younger him didn’t know that, all he knew is that he felt an urge he’d never felt before. 

To ravage and destroy, to take out Jackson and Lydia, Jackson who’d been an ass for as long as he’d known him. Lydia who had hurt his best friend by rejecting him, Stiles for all the pins and pricks that undercut years of friendship, and Allison, sweet Allison who didn’t understand just how much he needed her to cling to his humanity. Allison who should never have carried that burden in the first place.

“But you fought back.” Theo stared at him, looking like the kid Scott had known back in elementary school. “You didn’t kill them, you saved … all of them. I killed Tara.”  
And Scott could see the reflection of a young girl drowning in the shiny tiles of the school floors. Theo’s memories pushing through Scott’s own, meshing in the backgrounds, flashing on walls, windows, as a faded out projection of Theo’s unconscious into Scott’s..

“I was older than you were. You were just a kid.” They’d both been children, dragged into something they were too young to understand.

Scott took Theo by the shoulder and turned him around, they were in Scott’s bedroom now, Derek half-carrying Scott through the door as he brought him home. Scott remembered that night, images of himself jumping on Jackson’s car, ready to attack him, reflected on the windows of his bedroom window.

“I can't do this.” he heard his younger self say. “I can't be this and be with Allison. I need you to tell me the truth. Is there a cure?”

Allison had been such an easy excuse really. He had to be cured for Allison’s sake, because it was easier to do so for Allison, than admit how much he’d hated himself and the monster he’d been turning into. The harm he might have done.

And then Derek said the lie: “For someone who was bitten? I've heard of one. I don't know if it's true.” Scott tried to see if he could spot the lie in Derek’s eyes. As a born wolf, Derek had known better, he would have known better, but he’d still given Scott a spot of hope, just enough to lead him on and use as a carrot to do what Derek had wanted him to do.

“Well, what is it?”

“You have to kill the one that bit you.”

“Kill the Alpha?” 

“Scott. If you help me find him, I'll help you kill him.”

Scott turned around as he heard Theo scoff at that. 

“He deserved it.”Theo spat out. Like Theo felt he did as well, Scott understood, he disagreed on both notions. 

All he could think of was how quickly he’d jumped on the hope of that cure. How he’d clung to it, dreamt of it, never lingering too much on how he’d have to kill a living being just for the chance of it. “It wasn’t like you were going to drag some innocent kid to their death, not like I did.”

And that’s when Theo spun the scene around once more, this time to the Doctor’s lair, to young Theo, barely twelve talking quickly to a boy that seemed to follow him all too easily. Looking at the boy’s round cheeks, the big nerdish glasses, and the sweater vest, Scott could almost imagine how eager the boy must have been to have someone want to drag him out to explore the unknown. No matter how much it scared him.

When the screaming started and Theo stood in the back, staring ahead of him, but desperate not to watch, not to listen as the boy lay on the Doctor’s table. Scott wanted to throw up, wanted to be angry, but then he saw the look in Theo’s eyes, the fear and he realized that Theo had had about as much choice in refusing the Doctors, as Scott had had to refuse Peter.

“But you did refuse him, that’s the point. I didn’t. I was too scared, too selfish. I couldn't bring myself to run, not like you.”

“I wasn’t alone. You were. I had Stiles, who did you have?”

“I just gave in to them.”

And then they came to the sewers. To Kira holding up the sword. 

“Your sister has a message for you”

And Scott standing there, pulled between not wanting anyone to suffer like that, and knowing the threat Theo posed to the pack. He’d felt he had no choice. He’d given Theo chance after chance and Theo had thrown them back in his face over and over again. And yet hearing Theo beg, hearing the desperation as he said Scott’s name, he’d still wanted to jump in and keep him from being taken. 

“I should have saved you.” Scott whispered. “I gave up on you”

His claws left Theo’s neck, Theo was crying. Scott wanted to take a step away from him, let Theo have this without pushing himself on the other.

Theo took his hand.

“You had a right to be angry, I deserved it.”

“Nobody deserves that, Theo. Nobody.”

“I did. I needed it. I don’t think I’d have ever stopped running otherwise.. If Tara hadn’t made me face what I’d done, to her, to others. I needed it.

Theo finally pulled away from him, he stared at Scott one last time.

“I can’t stay.”

“Why?” Scott wanted him to turn back, for Theo to look at him. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Theo. You’re not a bad guy for wanting to protect others.”

“You think too much of me.” Theo whispered, a human might have missed his words. Then he grabbed his bag, his eyes towards the door.   
“No I don’t.” But Theo wasn’t listening, not anymore.

“You saved me, Scott. And you’re right, I can’t make you responsible for keeping me good. But I need you to know. I’m not good, I’ll never be good, not like you. But you make me want to be … better. And that’s more than I’ve done since the Doctors first showed up in my bedroom.”

“You don’t have to do this alone.”

“But that’s just it, Scott, you’re right, I can’t just keep leaning on you. I need to know if I can do this.” Scott wanted to tell him that that hadn’t been what he’d meant. That it wasn’t wrong to ask for help, but Theo was already decided.

Theo left the room. Scott let him go, too weak still to run after him. He hoped that Theo would change his mind, that he’d come back and stay, but he also knew that if he forced Theo to do so, that he might lose him forever. He fell on his knees, barely managing to get back on his feet.

When Chris returned, he found Scott sitting on the couch, shivering, even with his coat on. Chris didn’t say anything, he just put his hand on Scott’s shoulder, letting him know he was there to talk if Scott needed him.

 

******

 

Two days later, Brad was found in front of the local police station, begging the police to take his confession. His pants were soiled, he was paranoid, staring behind him, as if the dogs of hell were after him. 

Scott smiled at Kevin who was drawing a picture of his mom with crayons. Melody looked happy in bright blue and greens. Scott looked at the picture the little boy showed off to him, before returning his attention to his Mom who was preparing dinner in the kitchen.

Melissa and Chris had taken the little boy in. The boy’s grandmother wasn’t capable of doing so, she’d been too weak to take in a two year old, and the risk was too high that the hunters would go after her if she knew where the boy was. It would be too hard to get some regular family to understand what the kid had gone through. Mom had asked him if he would be fine having a little brother. Scott was just glad that he’d at least be able to tell the boy that his birth mother had loved him, that she’d died trying to save him. He didn’t think he’d ever tell Kevin about his ‘father’. He hoped the kid would just forget about the man. It was all he deserved anyway.

A month later, the other members of the hunter cell showed up tied to a bridge railing, swinging down the Golden Gate bridge, like a garland of thugs.. 

Theo’s scent was all over it.

Stiles told him to let Theo be. Stiles told him that Theo would show up if he wanted to. He always did, like a bad penny.

Scott didn’t listen. People had given Theo too much space for too long. It might be stupid, it might be wrong, but there was no way he was gonna leave Theo on his own. He grabbed his bags, jumped on his bike and drove to San Francisco.

After all, Theo wasn’t a monster, he was pack. And pack didn’t leave pack to suffer.

And if there was more to it than that, if scott’s heart rang out to Theo every day the Chimera was gone, then that was something he’d deal with once Theo came back home with him.

 

The end  
.


End file.
